Rebecca Kahn, visiting scientist and former postdoctoral research fellow in the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics (CCDD), was named a 2021 STAT Wunderkind in mid-November. The award recognizes top early-career researchers in health and medicine.
Kahn was among a group of 27 researchers named a “wunderkind” by STAT, a news organization that reports on health, medicine, and the life sciences.
Her research focuses on using infectious disease modeling to enhance epidemic preparedness and response. When COVID-19 first began spreading, Kahn designed a tool to help predict various pandemic scenarios, and became an adviser for New York City’s pandemic response, according to a November 16, 2021 STAT article. Since then, “her research has informed nationwide COVID-19 policy on issues ranging from contact tracing to nursing home outbreaks to the ‘natural immunity’ that comes from coronavirus infections,” according to the article.
In August, Kahn, along with CCDD director Marc Lipsitch, was chosen to help establish a new center at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention focused on forecasting and outbreak analytics. Lipsitch is director of science for the new center, and Kahn is a senior scientist.
Read the STAT article: Rebecca Kahn, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
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Epidemiologists Marc Lipsitch and Rebecca Kahn to help establish new CDC center (Harvard Chan School feature)